Clothes from brands like Burberry have been found to contain hazardous chemicals

Today we told the world a story, a story about the little monsters in children's clothes and shoes. As the mother of a young daughter, this is one story I had to read and one that revealed a shocking truth about the clothes we buy for our kids.

Our latest investigation has revealed the presence of hazardous chemicals in clothing made by 12 very well known brands; from the iconic kid's label Disney, to sportswear brands like Adidas, and even top-end luxury labels like Burberry.

When six women climbed the Shard everyone knew it was a landmark moment. Two months later 3000 people walked with the world's largest polar bear to Shell's headquarters. Three days after that 28 peaceful activists and two journalists were arrested at gunpoint. We were practically tripping over the landmark moments in 2013.

Normally you associate
Thailand’s beaches and holiday resorts with emerald water and white sands, but
on Saturday morning 50,000 litres of crude oil spilled from a leak in a
pipeline into the Gulf of Thailand, off Rayong province.

A clear majority of EU countries have
supported the European Commission proposal to temporarily ban three pesticides
that are scientifically shown to be harmful to bees: imidacloprid and
clothianidin, produced by chemical company Bayer, and thiamethoxam, produced by
Syngenta.

At the start of November, we threw down the gauntlet to 15
top Italian and French luxury fashion brands. We challenged them to clean up their products by agreeing not to use toxic chemicals and to ensure their leather and packaging wasn't causing deforestation.

Zara, the world’s largest clothing retailer, today announced a commitment to go toxic-free following nine days of intense public pressure. This win belongs to the fashion-lovers, activists, bloggers and denizens of social media. This is people power in action.

Fashion companies like Zara are using toxic chemicals to make their clothes

What are you wearing today? Touch it. Go on. What does it feel like? Yes, you're touching a piece of clothing. You're touching a type of fabric. You're touching a fashion choice. And yet, there's more to it: You're also touching a story. Because every piece of clothing – in your wardrobe, in my wardrobe, in everyone's wardrobe – has a story.